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People look toward North Korea through a barbed-wire fence near the De-militarized Zone separating the two Koreas, in Paju, South Korea. Photo: Reuters / Kim Hong-Ji
Northeast Asia Koreas

South, North Korea to talk after military drills postponed

By Andrew Salmon

Inter-Korean dialogue to take place at Panmunjeom next week after Trump and Moon agree to delay military exercises until after Olympic Games

South Korean soldiers stand guard at the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Photo: iStock

North Korea says will reopen suspended hotline at DMZ

By Andrew Salmon
A United Nations soldier in the Joint Security Area in the Korean Demilitarized Zone, Panmunjom. Photo: iStock

South Korea quick to warm to Kim’s Olympics icebreaker

By Andrew Salmon
Asia Unhedged Real-time intel on what moves markets
2 hours ago

North Korea may test new rocket engine: 38 North

Expectations for satellite launch may be wrong
2 hours ago

China offers 10-year visa to ‘high-end’ foreign talent

Luring the world's top minds
3 hours ago

As talks approach, Beijing ratchets up pressure on Pyongyang

China says will further limit crude oil supply, prohibit other exports in line with UN sanctions
More
The dailyReport
Must-reads from across Asia - directly to your inbox
China Digest Economics and Policy from China's Newspapers
21 hours ago

WeChat’s digital payment method marches into hospitals

In some hospitals, more than 50 percent of payments are made via WeChat, which is comparable to the use of cash payment
21 hours ago

China launches large-scale land greening campaign

The plan strives to reach 23.04 percent forest coverage by 2020 and 26 percent by 2035, reaching the world average by the middle century
22 hours ago

China lowers visa threshold to attract foreign talent

Scientists, entrepreneurs, specialists and highly-skilled personnel who meet the criteria or fulfill market demand can apply for the Foreign Talents visa
More
The Brief
Main
Latest
05-01-2018 16:55
Chinese carrier spotted in waters near Taiwan again (Asia Times staff)
05-01-2018 14:50
A Royal Commission of Inquiry into central bank losses accrued during ex-premier Mahathir Mohamad's tenure aims to hobble and divide his opposition coalition ahead of new polls. (Nile Bowie)
05-01-2018 14:15
Stripper was hired by OFW groups, not us: Philippine govt (Asia Times staff)
05-01-2018 13:56
Myanmar's detention of two Reuters reporters aims to intimidate other media against reporting on emerging evidence of massive military atrocities. (Lee Short)
05-01-2018 13:10
Opinion // Sonia Gandhi: A remarkable political journey (Shivam Vij)
05-01-2018 12:58
Taiwanese officials dismiss push to ban the Chinese flag (Asia Times staff)
05-01-2018 10:49
South, North Korea to talk after military drills postponed (Andrew Salmon)
05-01-2018 06:42
Wechat's social security card accepts online medical payments (Asia Times staff)
05-01-2018 06:16
China sets ambitious US$4.6 billion plan to restore forests (Asia Times staff)
05-01-2018 05:44
China moves to fast-track foreign talent with new visa system (Asia Times staff)
04-01-2018 20:08
Opinion // Battle of Bhima Koregaon symbolizes a war against caste oppression (Mangesh Dahiwale)
04-01-2018 19:30
China boldly goes into space with 40 planned missions (Asia Times staff)
04-01-2018 17:45
Ma showed them the money but failed to grab MoneyGram (Gordon Watts)
04-01-2018 17:21
Opinion // China mediates between Pakistan and Afghanistan (Sabena Siddiqui)
04-01-2018 16:33
Disruption in Iran oil would bring ‘significant’ price rise (Asia Times staff)
04-01-2018 15:52
Opinion // Emerging Asia market triumph may prove fleeting (Gary Kleiman)
04-01-2018 15:22
The appointment of a new top bishop in the influential Catholic clergy signals a new era of reconciliation between church and state in the Philippines. (Bong S Sarmiento)
04-01-2018 14:48
Internationally designated terrorist Hafiz Saeed plans to storm former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's stronghold, while threatening to retaliate against the US (Kunwar Khuldune Shahid)
04-01-2018 13:16
Opinion // Trump’s National Security Strategy marks return to realism (Norman A. Bailey)
04-01-2018 13:04
Opinion // Regime-change fans should know democracy does not guarantee peace (Leon Hadar)
04-01-2018 12:36
A report prepared by the Indian military reveals a huge rate of burnout of cadets at the country's premier military training institution. (Parth Satam)
04-01-2018 12:06
Filipino maids warned not to accept jobs in Russia (Asia Times staff)
04-01-2018 06:35
Central bank eyes bitcoin mining power issues (Asia Times staff)
04-01-2018 06:07
Pakistan shifts to Chinese currency to boost bilateral trade (Asia Times staff)
04-01-2018 05:26
Didi Chuxing catches a lift with Brazil's ride-sharing leader, 99 (Asia Times staff)
03-01-2018 18:45
Infants and children continue to be married off in many parts of India despite the custom being illegal for decades (Rohit Jain @RohitJain217)
03-01-2018 17:11
Defying gravity means solving China’s economic puzzle (Gordon Watts)
03-01-2018 17:01
Why there won’t be a revolution in Iran (Pepe Escobar)
03-01-2018 16:53
Iran’s complex of crises catches up with the regime (David P. Goldman)
03-01-2018 16:46
Australia and China's rising bilateral spat over politics and security could soon hit thriving trade relations. (Alan Boyd)
More
the Report
A journalist poses during a protest by local media to demand the release of Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo (pictured in posters behind) in Pyay on December 27, 2017. Photo: AFP/Thiha Lwin
Southeast Asia Politics

Jailing of journalists hides mass graves in Myanmar

By Lee Short

The detention of two Reuters reporters likely aims to intimidate other media against reporting on emerging evidence of massive military atrocities

Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar Defense Services Senior General Min Aung Hlaing attends a ceremony to mark the 69th Martyrs' Day in Yangon, Myanmar, July 19, 2016. Photo: AFP via Mur Photo/U Aung

Death rattle for Myanmar democracy

By David Scott Mathieson
A Shan State Army-South soldier stands guard outside the insurgent group's headquarters ahead of the Shan National Day in Loi Tai Leng, in Myanmar's northeastern Shan State. Photo: AFP/KC Ortiz

Myanmar’s cockpit of anarchy

By Anthony Davis
Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak at his ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO) annual assembly at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in a December 10, 2015. Photo: Reuters/Olivia Harris
Southeast Asia Politics

Najib probes state losses, just not his own

By Nile Bowie

An inquiry into central bank losses during ex-premier Mahathir Mohamad's tenure aims to hobble and divide his opposition coalition ahead of new polls

An Iranian woman raises her fist through the smoke of tear gas at the University of Tehran. Photo: AFP
Middle East Iran Opinion

Why there won’t be a revolution in Iran

By Pepe Escobar
Regime change is unlikely but what is in play is setting the scene for a further renewal of economic sanctions
Iranians march in support of the government near the Imam Khomeini grand mosque in the capital Tehran on December 30, 2017. Photo: AFP via Tasnim News

Iran’s complex of crises catches up with the regime

By David P. Goldman
President Hassan Rouhani will hope to push his reform agenda. Reuters / Stephanie Keith

Rouhani hopes to ride the wave of Iran’s turmoil

By M.K. Bhadrakumar
United States Opinion

Trump’s National Security Strategy marks return to realism

Norman A. Bailey By Norman A. Bailey

January 20 will mark the end of the first year of the administration of Donald Trump in Washington. President Trump was nominated for and then elected president contrary to the almost unanimous opinion of the media, the pollsters and the political talking heads that those outcomes were impossible. He was also elected to the office by the Electoral College despite having received almost 3 million fewer votes than his opponent. Since taking office on January 20, 2017, he has been the object of the unremitting hostility of all the forces that were arrayed against him in 2016 – the Democratic...

Child marriage continues to hurt youngsters in India, leading to widespread exploitation of girls at a tender age. Photo: Rohit Jain
India Child Marriage

Child marriage continues to traumatize 21st century India

By Rohit Jain @RohitJain217

Infants and children continue to be married off in many parts of India despite the custom being illegal for decades

Catholic nuns in a healing protest in Manila on November 5, 2017.
Catholic bishops led thousands of Philippine worshippers in calling for an end to killings in President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war as they urged police and troops to stop the violence. Photo: AFP/Noel Celis
Southeast Asia Religion

After fiery start, Duterte warms to God

By Bong S Sarmiento

Appointment of a new leading light in the influential Catholic clergy signals reconciliation between church and state in the Philippines

Australia's flag flutters in front of the Great Hall of the People during a welcoming ceremony for Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (not in picture) in Beijing, China, April 14, 2016. Photo: Reuters/Jason Lee
Southeast Asia Diplomacy

China dangles trade threat over Australia

By Alan Boyd

Rising bilateral spat over politics and security could soon hit thriving trade relations

A protester from a right-wing minor political group, the Party of Freedom, dressed as a Spartan at an anti-China demonstration outside the Chinese Consulate in Camperdown, Sydney on May 30, 2015. Photo: Citizenside/Richard Ashen

China-Australia tensions break into the open

By Erin Cook
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and newly elected John Alexander celebrate at a by-election party in Sydney. Photo: AAP Mick Tsikas via Reuters

China syndrome leaves unanswered questions in Australia

By Lachlan Colquhoun
Vietnam Communist Party Secretary General Nguyen Phu Trong gestures as he waits for deputies to join him on the podium for a group photo at the end of the final meeting of the outgoing parliament in Hanoi on April 12, 2016.
Photo: AFP/Hoang Dinh Nam
Southeast Asia Politics

Is Vietnam’s purge spinning out of control?

By Shawn W. Crispin

Hanoi's bid to extradite a police spy official with alleged secret documents now in Singapore and seeking passage to Germany threatens a diplomatic disaster

A clenched revolutionary fist painted with the flag of Vietnam. Photo: iStock/Getty Images

The drive to recentralize Vietnam

By David Hutt
A Vietnamese woman overlooks her fields. Photo: iStock/Getty Images

Muted cry for good governance in Vietnam

By Hunter Marston
India's foreign secretary designate Vijay Keshav Gokhale (right) with an Israeli diplomat Photo: Courtesy Twitter
India Foreign Secretary

Old China hand to guide India’s global path

By Saikat Datta

Vijay Keshav Gokhale, a fluent Mandarin speaker and a former Ambassador to China, is India's new Foreign Secretary

Jack Ma managed to sort out a deal with MoneyGram but not the one he wanted.  Reuters / Marcos Brindicci
Business China

Ma showed them the money but failed to grab MoneyGram

By Gordon Watts

Ant Finance bid fitted in with the Chinese billionaire's business philosophy and the Alibaba group's global expansion push

Ultimate Show Time
Sponsored Content
Spotlight Sands Resorts Macao

Macao, The Ultimate Event Destination

Ruins on Suakin Island by the Red Sea with a vessel in the distance. A revamp of the ancient port is part of a $650m deal Erdogan signed with al-Bashir late last month. Photo: Wikimedia

Erdogan snares an ancient port on the Red Sea – with funds from Qatar?

By Sami Moubayed
Turkish president strikes a deal with Sudan to develop the historic port island of Suakin, raising suspicion that Qatari funds have been used to secure a base close to the port of Jeddah; Egypt is not happy about the deal either
Business oil

Disruption in Iran oil would bring ‘significant’ price rise

By Asia Times staff

Crude oil prices could rise as a result of the wave of anti-government protests in Iran. Any disruption in oil supply through the Persian Gulf could push up oil, which was trading around US$62-a-barrel  on the Nymex futures market on Thursday. Talking on CNBC's Squawk Box program, Uwe...

Capital Link International chief strategist Uwe Parpart on CNBC's Squawk Box program. CNBC screen grab
China Economy
China's economy is starting to resemble a giant jigsaw puzzle. Photo: iStock

Defying gravity means solving China’s economic puzzle

By Gordon Watts
Dealing with the aftershocks of becoming an industrial power, such as pollution, overproduction and rural rejuvenation, will take careful handling
Southeast Asia war
Air America helicopters land on top of Phou Pha Thi mountain during the US' 'secret war' in Laos. Photo: Walt Darran

Revolutionary monument to CIA’s fall in Laos

By John McBeth

The North Vietnam Army's surprise attack on Air America's Phou Pha Thi radar station will be memorialized on the pivotal assault's 50th anniversary

China's manufacturing conveyor belt is still humming along. Photo: iStock
Business Economy

Manufacturing activity expansion keeps China on a roll

By Robert L. Anderson
Southeast Asia Politics
Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha (R) and Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwan before a weekly cabinet meeting at Government House in Bangkok, January 4, 2017. Photo: Reuters/Athit Perawongmetha

Thailand: will they stay or will they go?

By Shawn W. Crispin
Thai history has not been kind to military leaders who overstay their welcome
Middle East Israel Analysis

Israel’s diplomacy snatches defeat from the jaws of victory

By Shaiel Ben-Ephraim

Israel may be a military giant, but it is a diplomatic minnow. The diplomatic corps representing it is engaged in a seemingly perpetual losing battle. The Hebrew word for "public diplomacy" is hasbara, which can be loosely translated as "explanation." This gives some idea...

Palestinian teen Ahed Tamimi enters a military courtroom escorted by Israeli Prison Service personnel at Ofer Prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah on December 28, 2017. Photo: Reuters / Ammar Awad
China is clamping down on overseas ATM withdrawals. Photo: iStock
Business Banking

China tightens grip on overseas ATM withdrawals

By Robert L. Anderson
Southeast Asia security
China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy soldiers patrol at Woody Island, in the Paracel Archipelago, which is known in China as the Xisha Islands, January 29, 2016. Photo: Reuters/Stringer

China advances, US retreats in SEAsia

By Richard Javad Heydarian
2017 may have heralded the beginning of a new Sino-centric regional order
Business Property
A woman passes a private condominium estate in Singapore February 13, 2017. Photo: Reuters/Edgar Su

Asian builders aim to sustain sky-high growth

By Alan Boyd

Returns on Asia's top real estate investment trust index are on pace to exceed 30% in 2017. Will 2018 be as kind to regional property developers?

A rendering of the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple in Singapore's Chinatown, with the city's skyscraper business district in the background. Image: iStock/Getty Images

Chinese developers pump up Singapore property

By Nile Bowie
Asia Times mobile app

Asia Times launches app for iOS and Android

By Asia Times staff
AsiaTimesApp2
Greater China
Northeast Asia Taiwan

China would ‘pay a very high price’ if it invades, Taiwan warns

By Daniel Hurst

A senior Taiwanese minister has declared that China would “pay a very very high price” if it invaded Taiwan. Chang Hsiao-Yueh, Taiwan’s mainland affairs minister, also called on the United States not to use the self-governed island as a bargaining chip in negotiations with China. The comments come amid a flare-up in tensions over the possibility of the US restarting naval visits to ports in Taiwan. Chinese diplomat Li Kexin recently warned that the day...

China Business

China’s central bank ramps up digital payment security

By Asia Times staff

Security will be beefed up to combat private data leaks and attacks from hackers on China’s booming barcode payment system. Known as quick response or QR coding, this allows consumers to make an instant payment from their bank accounts by using their smartphones. To make a...

A mobile payment being made using the QR barcode system. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Northeast Asia China Opinion

Only unified international action can stop China’s expansion

By Robert E. McCoy

Beijing is relentless in its pursuit of territory that it feels once was a part of the Middle Kingdom. A lack of coordination in resisting this irredentist activity is having consequences, for ignoring it merely delays – and worsens – the problem. For example,...

An undated photo shows two Chinese jet fighters during a military drill in the South China Sea. Photo AFP/Stringer
Northeast Asia Defense rivalry

The year air power in Asia took off

By Todd Crowell

It was mostly quiet on the maritime front in the East and South China Sea in 2017. Not so in the air, where parties to the region’s many conflicts sought to intimidate each other through displays of air power. On December 17 the Chinese air...

A Chinese TV grab with a headline "PLAAF various warplanes fly past Bashi Channel and Miyako Strait". Photo: CCTV
China's domestically developed AG600, the world's largest amphibious aircraft. Photo: Reuters

China adds an ‘enormous dragon’ to its military arsenal

By Robert L. Anderson
Culture Sharing economy
A lone cyclist pedals past discarded bikes in China's Fujian province. Photo: Reuters

Bike-sharing shambles more than a bump in the road

By Gordon Watts

Hit by a proverbial flat tire, the industry has been left deflated after the Chinese craze descended into parking chaos, traffic turmoil and safety fears

Yao Ming walks with a baby elephant in Africa. The basketball star played a key role in the PR campaign against sales of ivory in China. Photo: WildAid
Culture Ivory trade

China’s ban on ivory ‘will greatly reduce elephant poaching’

By Asia Times staff
Economy oil

China plans to break petrodollar stranglehold

By Pepe Escobar

Petrodollars have dominated the global energy markets for more than 40 years. But now, China is looking to change that by replacing the word dollars for yuan. Nations, of course, have tried this before since the system was set up by former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in tandem with the House of Saud back in 1974 Vast populations across the Middle East and Northern Africa quickly felt the consequences when Iraq’s Saddam Hussein decided to...

China Economy

Annual economic meeting embraces Xi Jinping Thought

By Jeff Pao

The Communist Party of China ended a three-day Central Economic Work Conference in Beijing on Wednesday with a call to continue to develop the economy with “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.” According to a Xinhua report, the annual...

The Chinese flag waves in front of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on October 29, 2015. Photo: Reuters / Jason Lee
A Chinese flag flies in front of the Great Wall of China, located north of Beijing August 18, 2007. Photo:       Reuters/David Gray

Beijing unveils eight economic aims for 2018

By Jeff Pao
China's economy is likely to slow in 2018, according to the World Bank. Photo: Reuters

China needs to watch out for economic headwinds

By Asia Times staff
Syria reconstruction
Chinese companies are lining up to help rebuild Syria's shattered infrastructure. Photo: iStock

Chinese companies poised to help rebuild war-torn Syria

By Robert W Anderson
More than 30 firms have visited the country this year as Beijing expands its new Silk Road web across the Middle East
Analysis Economy

China shows its green roots on dusty road to contradictions

By Pepe Escobar

Modern China has been built on a series of “contradictions.” At last month’s 19th National Congress of the Communist Party, the Beijing administration identified a new “principal contradiction” which, in the framework of Sinicized Marxism, defines each period of the Middle Kingdom’s fast-evolving social development. Every...

China hopes to solve its traffic and pollution problems by turning to green vehicles. Photo: Reuters
A Chinese mobile phone user uses the taxi-hailing and car-service app Didi Chuxing.

China’s ‘New Economy’ bolsters employment market

By Asia Times staff
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon says in a speech in Tokyo on Sunday that America is in danger of becoming a 'de facto tributary state' to China. Photo: Getty Images

Hawkish speech gets Bannon under Beijing’s skin

By Frank Chen
Hong Kong
Hong Kong A march is held to protest agency malpractices. Photo: Facebook, Phobsuk Gasing

Unions march to protest job agency malpractices

By Asia Times staff

Labor organizations demanded that the Hong Kong government and source countries crack down on exploitation of migrant workers

Singapore Bukit Panjang HDB Estates, Singapore, where the maid worked. Photo: Google Maps

Maid jailed for pouring boiling oil on ‘devil’s son’

By Asia Times staff

Indonesian domestic worker also hit her employer's teenage son (who had attacked her and pulled her hair) with a hot frying pan, and was sentenced to 12 months in jail

Hong Kong Ma On Shan, New Territories. Photo: Google Maps

WW II mortar bomb found on stream bed in Ma On Shan

By Asia Times staff

The bomb was detonated safely by experts from the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Bureau

Hong Kong Police in Hong Kong and mainland China have been jointly tackling human smuggling. Photo: Hong Kong Government

Hong Kong, mainland extend human smuggling crackdown

By Asia Times staff

The joint operation netted 67,000 illegal migrants and illegal workers from Southeast Asian countries in Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan provinces

Culture Sport

How Tibet protests derailed Chinese-German football romance

By Martin Mulcahey
Spectators raise Tibetan flags at the match between TSV Schott Mainz and China's under-20 team at in Mainz-Mombach, Germany, on November 18, 2017. Photo: Hasan Bratic / dpa
Young women shoppers are helping to drive the luxury sector. Photo: iStock
China Culture

China's 'leftover' women infuriated by leftover attitudes

By Gordon Watts
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia Religion
Marina Mahathir, the daughter of former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, pauses during an interview at her office in Kuala Lumpur in a file photo. Photo: AFP/Jimin Lai

Reimagining women’s rights in Islam

By Muhammad Cohen

Marina Mahathir, the daughter of a former Malaysian prime minister, has championed a reinterpretation of the Koran's passages on women

Southeast Asia Banking

Philippines economy is in a ‘Goldilocks situation’

By Louie Puyat

Diwa Guinigundo is not your typical banker. The deputy governor of the Central Bank of the Philippines, or Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), crackles with optimism when he talks about the country's finances. Interviewed by Asia Times in his BSP office on the state of...

Diwa Guinigundo, the deputy governor of the Philippine's Central Bank, talks to Asia Times. Photo: Asia Times
Southeast Asia Politics
Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi at the Presidential residence in Naypyidaw on 28 November 2017. Photo: Reuters/Phyo Hein Kyaw

From hope to despair in Myanmar

By Bertil Lintner

While many expected democracy to bring peace and prosperity, elected governance has only deepened entrenched problems

Southeast Asia Politics
A supporter of President Rodrigo Duterte is pictured during presidential election campaigning in Malabon, Metro Manila in the Philippines April 27, 2016. Reuters/Erik De Castro

Why Filipinos love Duterte

By Jason Castaneda
2017 was by all accounts a bad year for Philippine democracy, but Filipinos smitten with strongman rule don't seem to care
Southeast Asia Politics

How democracy died in Cambodia

By David Hutt

The Cambodia National Rescue Party’s (CNRP) demise was in retrospect a foregone conclusion. But the future shape of Cambodia’s politics is still undecided with what will be widely perceived as rigged elections and a possible dynastic political succession in the year ahead. The nation’s only viable...

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen prays for peace and stability at a ceremony at the Angkor Wat temple complex on December 3, 2017. Photo: Reuters/Samrang Pring
Workers put up an election campaign banner for Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) in a 2015 file photo. Photo: AFP/Roslan Rahman
Southeast Asia Politics

Recalling Singapore’s forgotten unions

By Kirsten Han
Southeast Asia Politics

Palestine as political hobbyhorse in Malaysia

By Nile Bowie

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak addressed friend and foe alike at a recent mass demonstration in support of Palestine held in Putrajaya, the country's administrative capital. The rally followed weeks of protests across various major international cities in response to US President Donald Trump's decision...

Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak gestures as he speaks during a rally against US President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in Putrajaya, Malaysia December 22, 2017. Photo: Reuters/Lai Seng Sin
Protesters in Jakarta hold signs during a rally to condemn President Donald Trumps's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Photo: Reuters

Indonesia shows solidarity for Palestinian cause

By Erin Cook
Economy development
Indonesia's creaking railway network desperately needs to be upgraded. Photo: iStock

Indonesia’s mega fast-rail project runs into trouble

By John McBeth
The $5.9bn Jakarta-Bandung link has been plagued by problems to the frustration of its Chinese consortium partners
Northeast Asia
Culture South Korea

‘Kim Jong-un’ creates a stir on the streets of Seoul

By Asia Times
The real "Rocket Man", North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Photo: Reuters / KCNA
Northeast Asia North Korea
North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un next to a Hwasong-15 ballistic missile. Experts question whether anthrax could survive the high temperatures missiles experience during re-entry. Photo: Reuters / KCNA

Report claims North Korea preparing anthrax warheads

By Andrew Salmon

Experts raise doubts, but South Korean presidency taking measures to vaccinate against potential terrorist attacks

Stephen Bryen

S. Korea, Japan had best stock up on antibiotics to treat anthrax

By Stephen Bryen
South Korea Comfort Women

Probe casts shadow over ‘comfort women’ deal

By Andrew Salmon

An independent task force established to investigate the December 2015 “final and irreversible” deal reached between South Korea and Japan on the contentious issue of wartime “comfort women” reported problems in the pre-deal process, possibly paving the way for Seoul to demand a renegotiation...

Flowers are laid on a statue of a girl that represents the wartime sexual victims by the Japanese military, during a rally in front of Japanese Consulate in Busan, South Korea, on December 30, 2016. Photo: Reuters
North Korea sanctions
North Korea has tested a series of ICBMs in the past six months.  Photo: Reuters / KCNA

US turns screws on North Korea after UN move

By Robert L. Anderson

Washington imposes sanctions on two high-ranking officials involved in nuclear missile program

Northeast Asia Japan

As global power shifts, Japan mulls new alliances and weapons

By Doug Tsuruoka

Japan and the United Kingdom fought ferocious naval battles in World War II, but bygones are bygones: The two island democracies are planning joint naval exercises next year. The proposed maneuvers – the first by the two navies since World War I – are part...

Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson welcome Japan's Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera and Foreign Minister Taro Kono at the National Maritime Museum in London, on December 14, 2017. Photo: Reuters / Andrew Matthews
defense Japan Korea
A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor during a successful intercept test, in this undated photo provided by the US Department of Defense. Handout via Reuters

Tokyo, Seoul attentive yet restrained as Trump proposes weapons sales

By Peter J. Brown

Deals with US defense contractors are expensive and highly sensitive with regional rivals; but they could be limited to niche capabilities due to local limitations and a range of technical problems

Opinion Military

US accidents on Okinawa open old wounds

Grant Newsham By Grant Newsham

A cockpit window fell from a United States Marine CH-53 helicopter shortly after taking off from Futenma Air Base on the Japanese island of Okinawa last week.  The window landed in a schoolyard. Thankfully, it did not hit any children. Such incidents are unfortunate, but happen inevitably in the course of aviation operations, both civilian and military. On Okinawa, a hotbed of cultural clashes between US servicemen and local civilians, this kind of reality is often...

Chinese President Xi Jinping gestures towards South Korean President Moon Jae-In during a signing ceremony in Beijing. Photo: Reuters / Nicolas Asfouri
Northeast Asia South Korea

President Moon’s China state visit spirals into PR disaster

By Andrew Salmon

OpinionDrama queen Song takes on new role as ravishing diplomat

By Ben Kwok
Business Japan

Western pot calls Japanese kettle black on quality control

By Doug Tsuruoka

Horse meat consumed as beef. Subcompact cars, marketed as runabouts for coeds, whose gas tanks exploded like Roman candles in rear-end collisions. And a cocky company that caused one of history’s worst oil spills. Scanning headlines in the West, you might think these were stories about Nissan Motor, Kobe Steel, Takata Corp....

Takata Chairman and CEO Shigehisa Takada bows as he leaves a news conference on June 27, 2017, after the company's decision to file for bankruptcy protection. Photo: Reuters / Toru Hanai
South Asia
South Asia Politics
A supporter of the Islamist  political party Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) attends a rally opposing US President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in Karachi. Photo: Reuters /  Akhtar Soomro

Pakistan’s political weather? Prospects poor for moderates

By FM Shakil

The country faces a general election in July with extremists poised to gain ground

Middle East 2018

As guns fall silent, Russia to shape Syria’s political endgame

By Sami Moubayed

Many analysts predict that the upcoming year will witness a phased end to the Syrian conflict — at least, militarily. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, 85% of Syrian territory has been liberated from ISIS and other groups that had controlled entire cities...

Russian President Vladimir Putin (center), Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu (R) and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visit the Hmeymim air base in Latakia Province, Syria, on December 11, 2017.  Photo: Sputnik / Mikhail Klimentyev via Reuters
South Asia China
From left: Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Pakistani Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif attend a joint news conference after the first China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Foreign Ministers' Dialogue in Beijing on December 26, 2017. Photo: Reuters / Jason Lee

Beijing complicates Washington’s Afghan strategy

By MK Bhadrakumar
A trilateral dialogue has 'reaffirmed a commitment' to extend the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to Afghanistan
A file photo of Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev from September 2016. Photo: Georgy Kakulia/Press Service of Georgian Govt/ via Reuters

The Afghan war: Trump and Putin battle for Uzbek support

By MK Bhadrakumar
Afghan security forces keep watch at a check point close to the compound of Afghanistan's national intelligence agency in Kabul, Afghanistan. December 25, 2017. Photo: Reuters / Omar Sobhani

ISIS numbers growing fast near China’s New Silk Road, says Russia

By Asia Times staff
South Asia Sri Lanka Opinion

Sri Lanka the latest victim of China’s
debt-trap diplomacy

By Brahma Chellaney

This month, Sri Lanka, unable to pay the onerous debt to China it has accumulated, formally handed over its strategically located Hambantota port to the Asian giant. It was a major acquisition for China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – which President Xi Jinping calls the “project of the century” – and proof of just how effective China’s debt-trap diplomacy can be. Unlike International Monetary Fund and World Bank lending, Chinese loans are collateralized by...

India Judiciary
Supporters of Andimuthu Raja celebrate outside the court in New Delhi.  Photo: Reuters / Adnan Abidi

Acquittals in 2G court case trigger seismic fallout

By Alam Srinivas
The $39.3bn 2G scam that crushed Dr Manmohan Singh's government and helped Narendra Modi to an historic victory has been thrown out by a New Delhi court
The then-Chairman of Larsen and Toubro, Anil Naik, delivers a speech in Bangalore, on August 19, 2004. Photo: AFP / Indranil Mukherjee
India Business

Builder L&T’s former boss Naik takes liberties with the facts

By Alam Srinivas
India Opinion

P V Narasimha Rao: homage to a great Indian statesman

Sunil Dhavala By Sunil Dhavala

These days, in a blink of an eye many entrepreneurs are born, startups and companies are incorporated. Job-hopping nowadays is not uncommon in India. Micro-lending is available in a jiffy. Technology progresses in a flash, and international brands and products set foot in India at the drop of a hat. Mushrooming of malls and multiplexes has changed the way Indians live, and spend time and money. Technology, disruption, and innovation are the new punk rock. But...

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi managed to barely hold on to his home state of Gujarat despite a vigorous election campaign. Photo: Reuters / Amit Dave
India Gujarat Elections

In victory, BJP smells defeat, while Congress tastes an opportunity

By Darshan Desai
World
United Kingdom Brexit

West goes back to the future, apart from Brexit Britain

By Richard Cook

As a new year approaches, there seems little for the West to cheer about. Parts of Europe look to be facing economic turmoil, while the United Kingdom is divisively and emotively split between pro and anti Europeans. The United States is also damagingly divided along...

Anti-Brexit protesters demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament in London. Photo: Reuters / Simon Dawson
A file pic of Mohammed Dahlan, a former Fatah security chief, in his office in Abu Dhabi in the UAE in Oct 2016. Photo: Reuters
Middle East Palestine

Exiled Fatah leader Dahlan planning political comeback

By Sami Moubayed
Politics Alberto Fujimori
People hold a banner with the colours of the Peruvian flag as they march against President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski's pardon for former president Alberto Fujimori in Lima, Peru on December 28, 2017. Photo: Reuters / Mariana Bazo

Peru’s Asian dynasty pulling strings in the background

By David DeVoss
Former dictator Fujimori pardoned; will the son and daughter also rise?
East Asia Leadership

How Asia’s ‘people of the year’ muddled through in 2017

By David Simmons

Since Charles Lindbergh was named Time magazine’s “Man of the Year” in 1927, the annual honor has evolved with, some would say, societal progress or, others would say, the publication’s wish to be seen as politically correct (and sell subscriptions from newly empowered groups,...

Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen during a meeting at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh on October 13, 2016. Photo: AFP / Tang Chhin Sothy
United States strategy Analysis
US President Donald Trump gestures as he talks to the media on South Lawn of the White House in Washington before his departure to Camp David on December 16, 2017. Photo: Reuters / Yuri Gripas

Trump offers a daring program to restore US dominance

By David P. Goldman
US President proposes a muscular kind of global activism, fostering new alliances while reinforcing America’s existing commitments; plus a layered missile defence shield
M.K. Bhadrakumar

Trump’s grandstanding on national security could end in tragedy

By M.K. Bhadrakumar
United States Politics

Obama warns of dangers of ‘irresponsible’ internet use

By Asia Times staff

Barack Obama appeared to have Donald Trump in his sights when he issued a warning against the irresponsible use of social media. In a rare interview since he left the White House in January, the former United States President seemed to be referring to his...

Head-to head: Donald Trump and Barack Obama. Photo: Reuters / Carlos Barria
Europe Catalan
Catalan Ciudadanos leader Ines Arrimadas (C) smiles next to Ciudadanos national leader Albert Rivera at a Ciudadanos rally after results were announced in Catalonia's regional elections in Barcelona, Spain on  December 21, 2017. Photo: Reuters / Eric Gaillard

Catalan elections: the ghosts that won’t go away

By Spengler
Nationalism is an idea whose time has come, gone, and come back again
Mehmet Hakan Atilla is depicted in a court room sketch. Photo: Reuters / Jane Rosenberg
United States Turkey

Plenty of spice in New York trial Erdogan wishes would go away

By Sami Moubayed
Middle East Christmas
Christmas decorations are seen in old Damascus, Syria, on December 15, 2017. Photo: Reuters / Omar Sanadiki

Christmas lights re-appear after dark years for Syria’s Christians

By Sami Moubayed
Christians are found among the dead, wounded, and displaced in Syria, sharing a plight of misery with Muslims. But Christmas 2017 finds a renewal of hope among a minority community with a deep sense of belonging to its war-torn home
Business and Finance
economics interest rates

How Asia reached a monetary turning point in 2017

By William Pesek

While the Federal Reserve got all the headlines, Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol arguably pulled off 2017’s most important monetary maneuver. Asia’s economies have long been living on borrowed economic time, as central banks have held interest rates low to gin up growth. Look...

Lee Ju-yeol, South Korea's central bank governor. Photo: Reuters / Kim Hong-Ji
Markets Stock Markets

Gravity check for Asian stocks in 2018

By William Pesek

Bitcoin got all the headlines, but Asia’s stock markets also did plenty in 2017 to defy gravity. Unlike the cryptocurrency boom, Asia’s equity rally is underpinned by a reasonably persuasive argument. Asia, after all, generally has what the West lacks: buoyant growth, swelling middle-class consumer...

A woman walks past an electronic board showing the movements of Japan's Nikkei average outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan, on October 23, 2017.  Photo: Reuters / Issei Kato
Business Northeast Asia

Nikkei’s 2017 rally papers over missing link: wage growth

By William Pesek

If we can discern a “Trump Doctrine” one year in, it’s that a surging stock market absolves all manner of sins. As Russia probes heat up, indictments fly and Donald Trump’s policies irk the global community, the president points to the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s...

A worker rides a bicycle in a container area at a port in Tokyo. Photo: Reuters / Toru Hanai
Finance Cryptocurrencies
A man walks past a board showing exchange rates of various cryptocurrencies in Seoul. Photo: Reuters / Kim Hong-Ji

Who has been driving the crypto boom? Individuals in Asia

By Martin J. Young
Despite a backlash from some regional governments, Asian retail traders continue to drive demand
Technology United States Opinion

Tech stars of tomorrow blocked by the giants of today

By Henry Kressel

It's one of the big mysteries about startups. The number of new jobs created by companies less than a year old has declined from 4.1 million in 1994 to 3 million in 2015, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. With so much new technology...

Breaking into the high-tech market can be challenging for startups. Photo: iStock
Southeast Asia Business
A Singaporean shopper looks at a collection of Louis Vuitton bags and wallets at the French company's nautical concept store at Singapore's Marina Bay Sands casino complex. Photo: AFP/Simin Wang

Southeast Asia is patently behind in world markets

By Alan Boyd
Despite high patent and intellectual property filings, no regional company or product has a leading global position
Alibaba Group China
Alibaba Group's Jack Ma. Photo:  Reuters file picture

Good luck with those 40-year Alibaba bonds

By William Pesek

Chief among things to consider is the political risk hovering over Jack Ma’s e-commerce juggernaut

Bitcoin coin. Photo: iStock
Japan Bitcoin

How Bitcoin can save the world from deflation

By William Pesek
Business Property

What’s hot, what’s not in Asian real estate

By Alan Boyd
High-rise housing estates in Singapore, currently Southeast Asia's hottest property market. Photo: iStock
Culture and Living
Culture Books
A gamer in headphones sits in front of a monitor in a darkened room. Photo: iStock/Getty Images

Video games on a psychoanalyst’s couch

By Nile Bowie
The new book "The Playstation Dreamworld" critiques technology and capitalism through the growing role gaming plays in modern life
Cafu pulls 'Iran' out of the bowl and Diego Maradona looks uncomfortable as the draw is made for the 2018 FIFA World Cup at the Kremlin Palace in Moscow on December 1. Photo: Reuters / Sergei Karpukhin
Culture Sport

Runners and riders: assessing Asian World Cup prospects

By John Duerden
India Film
Trapped Image

Bollywood captures the good, the bad and the indifferent

By Suprateek Chatterjee

It was not a stellar year for India's Hindi film industry but the stars still shone on the silver screen

Philosophy existentialism

In an age of Hollow Men and existential angst, re-read Sartre

By Pepe Escobar

As the geopolitical chessboard continues to be tossed around by ill winds, an exhausted West wallows in the mire of its own failings, and the planet faces a mounting existential crisis, we might do worse than to pause and reflect on how one of the great minds of a previous generation might help us make sense of these times of trouble. Jean-Paul Sartre was one of the last towering giants of a Renaissance pantheon concerned...

Culture Food
A special Northern Thai menu served at a branch of Rosa's Cafe.

Thai and rising: former HK nanny helping to spice up the UK

By Richard Cook

Saiphin Moore, who comes from Thailand and once worked as a domestic helper in Hong Kong, has just had her UK restaurant group valued at more than US$30 million

K-pop icon Kim Jong-Hyun, the lead singer of Shinee. Photo: AFP, Yonhap
Culture K-Pop

Tributes pour in as fans mourn death of K-pop idol Jonghyun

By Asia Times staff
Van Tan tucks into some noodles at Cambodia Town's Phnom Penh Noodle Shack, which he co-owns. Photo: Charley Lanyon

A new era for Cambodian culture and cuisine in Long Beach

By Charley Lanyon

Cambodia Town in Southern California's Long Beach was born from the tragedy of war and genocide. Now, starting with food, a new generation of its inhabitants are determined to put their culture on the map

Ceviche with red Sicilian prawns and turbot. Photo: P-A Jorgensen
Culture Food

Phoque Tales: Brexit-weary London gets taste of French Hong Kong

By L.K. Morgan
Culture Censorship
A photo from Vietnamese photographer Hao Nhien's recent Tao Tuc exhibit held in Ho Chi Minh City. The nude exhibit was viewed as a watershed in the long-running tussle between state censors and artists. Photo: Courtesy of Hao Nhien

Vietnam gets a softer kind of censorship

By Zoe Osborne

First state-approved nude photography exhibit was a watershed moment in gradual easing of control on certain art forms

Culture Business
Female cyborg with VR headset. Photo: iStock

VR: the future of adult entertainment?

By Liu Hsiu Wen
Ayaka Hahn, CEO and co-founder of Imagine VR, and Michelle Flynn, director and owner of Lightsouthern, talk about the possibilities of VR in adult entertainment
Opinion
Shivam Vij
Shivam Vij

Sonia Gandhi: A remarkable political journey

05-01-2018 13:10
Mangesh Dahiwale
Mangesh Dahiwale

Battle of Bhima Koregaon symbolizes a war against caste oppression

04-01-2018 20:08
Sabena Siddiqui
Sabena Siddiqui

China mediates between Pakistan and Afghanistan

04-01-2018 17:21
Gary Kleiman
Gary Kleiman

Emerging Asia market triumph may prove fleeting

04-01-2018 15:52
Norman A. Bailey
Norman A. Bailey

Trump’s National Security Strategy marks return to realism

04-01-2018 13:16
Leon Hadar
Leon Hadar

Regime-change fans should know democracy does not guarantee peace

04-01-2018 13:04
Vijay Oberoi
Vijay Oberoi

Indian Army continues to battle an indecisive government

02-01-2018 19:49
Bradley K Martin
Bradley K Martin

The problem with Western reports on North Korea

02-01-2018 15:09
Emanuele Scimia
Emanuele Scimia

Angered by allies, Turkey buys Russian defense system

02-01-2018 12:03
Danny Lam
Danny Lam

The economic consequences for China of a new Korean War

02-01-2018 11:41
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